Just a 47-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). **Dh got offered a $85 focus group - woohoo! It's been pretty dry since we have been getting all these credit card rewards. Nice to score both types of extra income in the same month.
**I was dreading the car rental reservation for Florida (guess I HATE planning vacations) and finally did the deed yesterday. It was much better than I expected - I found a car rental for about $100 for 8 days AND this was not a "pre-paid/non-refundable" cost. So basically, I am pleased I didn't have to pay for it ahead of time.
Since it was much cheaper than I was expecting, that leaves more money to enjoy in Florida. Phew!!
**The school year has been very busy. BM was invited onto a Lego Mindstorm team - some regional competition in the fall. Lego Mindstorm is a robot building kit. BM already has a set because my dad bought him one a couple of years ago. This is right up his alley!
**This month has been REALLY low-spend (we plan the same for October). BUT, this has been offset by all the back to school sales. I stocked up a bit on summer stuff for next summer (new swim stuff for the kids - on clearance - replaced my pricier/better support flip flops on clearance, etc.). I haven't shopped Kohls all year, but they were having a pretty big sale + 20% off yesterday, so I online shopped a bit. I ordered a frame print that I think will go really nice with our new couch. I figure I might return some of it. I also bought some socks and underwear on clearance (Hanes.com and Target in-store).
Staying home with the kids has meant a lot of years of "doing without," and I am sure we still do on some level. As were college years. So, I feel delight when I Can stock up on things "before I even need them."
The socks were an interesting purchase because I gave up buying socks in the name of frugality, or maybe moreso priorities, many many years ago. (I just buy packages of plain white socks, as needed). I spotted a bunch of colorful socks on clearance and I thought I suppose I could spare $10 to replenish my sock drawer with some color. Such a small splurge, but makes me feel "rich."
**The plan is to no-spend for the next 9 days or so - credit card closes the day after Labor Day. Back to School sales aside, no-spending has been easy with our busy schedule - with school starting back up and work being such a busy time of year. {No spend means everything except for groceries - will probably be about $100}.
**Oh yes - and yesterday was a big day for soccer - BM had four games. We met up at Jack in the Box to switch off adult duties, mid day (& so LM did not have to sit in the sun all day). We had credit card reward gift cards so it was a free meal. We went for $1 ice cream afterwards, at Rite Aid, but they had raised the price. So spent about $3 for ice cream for two.
**& speaking of credit card rewards - dh also bought a baby roku. I call it a baby roku because it is SO SMALL! Our old one never worked very well (but we have two - and we knew it could work better!). So, it looks like a lot of problems we thought were Hulu problems were more roku problems. IT was nice it didn't cost any money to replace it. We obviously don't plan to sell the old one because it sucks. I suppose it is official that we are committed to "no cable" for the long run. Probably even moreso now that our primary roku is no longer a PITA.
This & That
August 26th, 2012 at 05:19 pm
August 26th, 2012 at 11:25 pm 1346019912
August 27th, 2012 at 12:32 am 1346023952
August 27th, 2012 at 02:13 am 1346030009
August 27th, 2012 at 02:52 am 1346032347
August 27th, 2012 at 02:45 pm 1346075145
August 27th, 2012 at 03:14 pm 1346076841
Color coordinating and accessorizing, is in general more costly and time consuming.
& obviously this is no huge money savings, but has just been at the bottom of my priority list for a very long time. Too many more important financial needs and wants.
August 28th, 2012 at 07:12 pm 1346177558
Nice score on the rental car.